Sesshomaru Answers Rin
by Silent Scribe
Summary: A response to Ravyn Skye's "Rin Asks Sesshomarusama". A fanfiction arguing for the father/daughter relationship between Sesshomaru and Rin.


_A/N: This is a response to Ravyn Skye's "Rin Asks Sesshomarusama"._

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_"The only thing that doesn't abide by the majority rule is a person's conscience." – Harper Lee_

**Sesshomaru Answers Rin**

The sun shone brightly on a day Sesshomaru would recall as one of the darkest in his life.

"Rin, what is that you have?"

"I'm not entirely certain, Lord Sesshomaru," replied the young adolescent, hefting a small, glowing, black box in her hands. "When Lady Kagome returned for good yesterday I found this on her person. She said I could have it since she no longer had any use for it herself."

The daiyokai cocked his head in mute curiosity. Rin proceeded to explain, "It's called a PDA, and it still seems to have a connection to the world beyond the well. See? There's this function labeled 'internet' and you can access all sorts of information."

From Rin's outstretched palm, Sesshomaru plucked the curious device. He started suddenly. The PDA had beeped.

"It speaks?"

"Not really," Rin commented dryly. "More like chirps whenever you push it."

Doggishly, he sniffed the gadget. "It's not alive." He prodded it some more. "The internet, hmm?" His claws worked for a few minutes.

The girl climbed atop a nearby log, trying to see over the daiyokai's furred shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Searching."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Elaborate."

"Is there any information on us?" It seemed he was speaking more to the box than her. Suddenly, the mane under Rin's touch bristled. To her left she saw Sesshomaru's lips had curled back to reveal hard, white fangs. "What is the meaning of this?"

On the screen flashed the words, "Why SesshomaruxRin are the best InuYasha romantic pairing ever!"

Rin leaned in. "What the – ?"

With just enough restraint to keep from shredding the PDA, Sesshomaru stabbed the link to read further, his claws wrapping dangerously around the device.

Upon noticing the crimson bleeding into his eyes, Rin piped up. "Maybe I should hold it, Lord Sesshomaru?"

A feral growl trickled out.

"You might crush it, then we'll never know what it has to say."

Reluctantly, he handed the PDA back. "Read," he ordered.

Rin cleared her throat. "Reason number one," she began, "because that's the way things were back then. It was socially acceptable for an older man to marry a younger girl."

"Excuse me?" he asked incredulously.

Rin held up her own copy of _The Tale of Genji_. "Apparently, many people say it's little different from Lady Murasaki's greatest contribution to literature four hundred years ago."

"They would dare compare this Sesshomaru with that undisciplined philanderer who even goes after his father's concubines? They think I'm like him?"

"Guess so." She shuddered, but like any child, curiosity of the forbidden and morbid spurred Rin to go on. "And they think it all works out in the end without any repercussions."

"Ha!" Sesshomaru barked. "Have they even read the damn novel? Sounds like they're going by a shoddy summary. Yes, Genji does indeed marry a girl, but then he is a highly controversial figure in the entire story. He breaks rules and gets away with it – for a while. A sizeable portion of the story is about how he gets his comeuppance. From impregnating a woman with whom he should not have been dallying, Genji is stuck raising a son that was not his. Meanwhile, his own young bride commits the same act with another, resulting in _him_ raising the child of another man as his own son. This young bride he loved also dies, thus heartache serves as ultimate punishment for the oaf.

"The idea that 'it happened in historical times' is ridiculous. It implies that it was universally accepted without restriction then and it's universally unaccepted without restriction in Kagome's era. This implication just isn't true. It happened then and it still happens now - but it's never been fully accepted nor fully denied.

"It's therefore a pointless argument to whether we would have a future romantic relationship. Other factors should be more important in reaching a decision on whether to support or deny such a role." Sesshomaru concluded with an indignant snort. "Next."

"Okay," Rin allowed a little phew under her breath. Comforting to know Lord Sesshomaru wasn't so easily intimidated or influenced by one example. "Reason two highlights Inuyasha and Kagome. He's at least two hundred and Kagome was only fifteen when sexual tensions started to arise between them."

Sesshomaru scoffed. "My cur of an half-brother has the mentality of a teenage human. Anyone who _knows_ me understands I have beyond the mental capacity of my appearance."

"They argue otherwise."

"Really? Do they know who I _am?"_

Rin shrugged. "Best say another reason."

"Fine; did Inuyasha watch his mate grow up? I stood in contact with you these past years, from childhood until adolescence."

"They say that's because you plan to marry me when I'm older. But you continue to bring me clothes, are you courting me?"

"No," he replied flatly.

"But according to our culture – "

"You mean the one a bunch of Westerners continue to speculate over?"

"Yeah, that one. According to it, it's very unusual for a man to bring a young girl clothes unless he's planning to marry her."

Sesshomaru's claws cracked in agitation. He hated to hear people ignore his most becoming trait of all: his ego. "Do you think I want to set you on the level of commoner? Until you marry, Rin, you're in my care. Live as you please, stay with your own kind, but you're not dirt. Not in my eyes. I will see that you are properly clothed according to your affiliation with nobility.

"Courting you? Am I sending you haiku also? No, I'm providing for you. It's within my means. I can stay in contact with you. What sort of brute would I be if I didn't? It would augur that my compassion was but an illusion. That would be pawning you off on an old maid and claiming I had rid myself of your responsibility."

Rin smiled appreciatively, then hopped away a couple of feet to put distance between her and Sesshomaru. No disrespect to him, only out of concern for the well-being of the PDA. The dog-demon hadn't stopped examining his talons. From her new space, Rin continued. "They say you never show any sign of acting fatherly other than rescuing me from people who mean me harm. Heck, you don't even provide dinner for me – I gotta go out and forage for it."

Sesshomaru scoffed again. "Tch, you never complained. Besides, would you want to grow up weak and needy in these warring times? You think I would tolerate such a trait in you?" He turned an unwavering amber gaze on her. "The weak perish, Rin."

Now _that_ sounded like Sesshomaru. The girl was quiet, until she found an angle for that one, too. "What if we were separated for a long time and you came to me when I was a voluptuous teenager with a different adult scent. Then what?"

"Then that wouldn't be you, little fool."

"So like an OC?"

"Hn?"

"Okay, moving on. They say you don't love me like a father, but as a romantic interest."

"So I am a pedophile."

"Not exactly, the defense is that you're a man of your time," Rin coupled the phrase with air quotation marks.

"Still on that Genji note? Did they forget that I had a father? That I knew paternal love best?"

Rin shrugged. "Maybe. Though it goes that you're only following in his footsteps, you're going to fall in love with a human. Especially since your honored mother said you've become like your father in the strangest ways."

"That doesn't mean I'm _him_! I've found the, er, sympathy," Sesshomaru choked on the syllables, "for short-lives."

"Yeah, well, chances are you're going to marry a mortal." Then Rin added defensively, "According to the PDA."

"And that mortal means you because apparently you're the last female mortal on the planet."

"Uh-huh, or Kagome."

"_Who?"_

"Staying on topic." She hurriedly skimmed down the page. "See, only a few people take up the pedophile case. That is pretty creepy; but really most romantic shippers agree that you simply don't see me in a paternal light. You love me in a non-familial way."

Sesshomaru ground his fangs. "How is that supposed to be any different from a pedophile?"

"Because you're not touching me inappropriately."

Massaging his temples, the daiyokai spoke slowly. "There is no difference between romantic and platonic love other than that one involves physical attraction. Being physically attracted to you now would constitute pedophilia."

"What about in the future?"

"So do I forget all those memories of you as a child, of you in my care? Puberty erases all, eh? What's your fabricated outlook, I wonder."

Rin coughed into her fist before answering. "Well, I guess you're just supposed to be this hot, older guy I knew as a kid and who, when I get boobs and a few more inches, I'm going to seduce."

Sesshomaru blanched, his magenta stripes standing out.

Rin was oblivious. "Or you're going to uncharacteristically get the hots for. Which ever comes first."

It took a few moments before the Western Lord regained his speech.

"That's absurd." He swallowed. "So then, whatever I learned…the…" Sesshomaru snapped his fingers as if trying to remember a word.

"Benign, all-loving compassion for other living creatures that you learned from me?" Rin offered.

"Yes, that," he mumbled. "That would all have been for naught. It would be narrowed down to one romantic relationship with a single human; I doubt that is what Father would have wanted me to understand."

"But all other romantic options are out of the picture," Rin observed. "Like the fact that Kohaku's gone."

"He went off to become a demonslayer," Sesshomaru huffed. "About time that boy grew a spine and did something productive with himself. He's _fourteen_ for crying out loud! One hopes he learns a trade."

"What of Lady Kagura, then?"

"What about her?" The daiyokai folded his arms, not willing to disclose much more than necessary. "Let's stick to the topic at hand."

Half-hearing Sesshomaru mumble something like "before I vomit", Rin obeyed. "What about the idea that most of Japan already considers us a lolicon pairing?"

Eyebrows raised until they disappeared under silver bangs. "Says who?"

"Dunno. Just some post on the internet."

"So we're taking the word of a complete stranger?"

"Many other people bought it."

Sesshomaru heaved an exasperated sigh. "So since a questionable majority says takes one side it must be true."

She nodded, her finger jabbing in a few more options. "What's interesting is that a lot of people who support this based on the majority also have a funny list on each of their profiles. For instance, 'I'm BLACK, so I MUST be on welfare.' Or, 'I'm a VIRGIN, so I MUST be a prude.'"

"Tch, hypocrites, making their own stereotypes." Sesshomaru spat between his boots. "Find something useful."

"On it." Rin's hand was blur over the screen. She was mastering this technology quite quickly.

Combing a rough hand through his fur, the dog-demon mused aloud, "What is this term lolicon? From whence does it come?"

"According to this other site, Wikipedia" Rin answered, referring to the PDA, "lolicon is short for 'Lolita-complex'. _Lolita_ being a novel written by Russian-born author Vladimir Nabokov in 1952 depicting the romance between forty-year-old Humbert Humbert and twelve-year-old" – she gave a little squeak of shock here – "Dolores Haze, also known as Lolita. Thus, any man with a lust for pubescent girls is called a lolicon in addition to it being a label for the relationship."

"A charming euphemism," Sesshomaru drawled, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"The relationship is said to be very popular in the Japan from Lady Kagome's time."

"From the looks of matters, I question it not." He frowned. "But is it accepted by everyone?"

Rin looked up at the sky as if speaking to a higher entity. "Well, the argument there is that since Takahashi-dono is Japanese she would naturally be comfortable with such a thing."

"That's another logical fallacy you could chalk up along with that list." Sesshomaru waved his hand dismissively, then mocked in a falsetto tone, "I'm JAPANESE, so I MUST have no problem with lolicons."

"Wait a minute!" Rin chirped exuberantly.

"What?" he harrumphed. "There's something for an affinity of young boys?"

"That's shotacon," – Sesshomaru's jaw dropped – "but that's beside the point." Rin scrolled up. "In an interview with famed animator, whatever that is, Hao Miyazaki, he said that although he prefers female characters it's difficult because 'in a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict such heroines as if they just want them as pets, and things are escalating more and more.'" She looked up over the PDA at this point. "See, Lord Sesshomaru, there are Japanese people – highly acclaimed ones it seems – who don't condone lolicon."

"A drop in the bucket. How many people will do their research to notice that."

"Someone did. Also, there's a lot of controversy over the symbolism of clothes throughout the story."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like Kagura's garments suggest she's a…I don't think I supposed to say that word."

"Dancers of the Shinto faith wear the same getup," Sesshomaru supplied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are we to accuse the rest of practitioners of prostituting as well?"

"My first kosode is allegedly that of a lord's youngest wife."

"They're clothes of nobility!" Sesshomaru addressed the heavens. "Didn't anyone ever notice that Takahashi-dono is not writing for historical accuracy? This is a feudal _fairytale!_"

"I know," Rin groaned. "Boys don't have dog ears, girls don't time travel, and no one wages full-scale wars for marbles with cosmic powers!"

A loud crack resounded as Sesshomaru ripped the bark from a tree. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"People ask why I would want to live with you forever? Isn't that what girls tell their husbands?"

"You were a young child when you said that." Sesshomaru traced a circle in the dirt with the toe of his boot, reminiscing. "Plenty of children tell such things to their parents and never mean it." If Sesshomaru had a modern psychology text he would have known what a primitive Oedipus complex was and have further evidence for the natural reaction. For now, though, he could only offer his sympathetic gaze.

Rin sniffled. "I know, it's like no one makes allowances for the fact that I'm a kid." She sat down in the grass. "Apparently I can't even walk beside you because it suggests I'm seen as a significant other."

"Ha, that could've went to Kagura who dared even address me without a title."

"Yeah." Rin was still somber.

Sesshomaru tasted bile in his mouth. "You were a child and so allowances were made. No one ever got that close to me. I welcomed you as family."

"But everyone's so nitpicky! You can't hold me without them thinking it's romantic. I can't want to stay with you without it meaning I want to marry you. And the gods forbid you ever tell me…"

"I love you," Sesshomaru completed. The phrase felt foreign, but he had best say it before it became ultimately taboo. The daiyokai ground his fangs as he shied away from Rin's outstretched arms, from her silent plea for reassurance. He obviously couldn't risk anymore physical contact. Destroying his innocent relationship with a child, perverting it because they couldn't understand a man looking after a young girl without carnal intent for the present or future, Sesshomaru took great pleasure in the crunch of software and flinging it back into the abyss of time and space.

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_A/N: Now before you run off to go and camp on either me or the opposition, get your facts in order. We've both got plenty of ammo. And don't forget, this is friendly fire here. Both authors are writing to express opinion. The defense of my story is based on what has been presented in the previous work along with varied defenses for Sessh/Rin romantic._


End file.
